Tuesday, September 8, 2015

J Is For Josh

Jennifer talks about the hero in her book…

Josh was a great character to write. He started out as the villain
in The Seduction of Esther. Maybe villain is too strong of a word. He was the
foil. In that book, he was in love with the heroine, Samara. Except Samara was
in love with Nathaniel.

Samara and Nathaniel were much better together than Samara
and Josh. Samara was a bit of a mess and Josh thought it was his job to fix
her. He was a great friend, but there weren’t any sparks—Samara didn’t want to
be fixed (and I don’t like writing heroines who would want that anyway).

But he stuck with me because despite that flaw, he had a lot
of potential. He was honorable, caring and compassionate and there was a reason
behind his desire to fix people.

So I wrote him a book of his own.

In Miriam’s Surrender, Josh meets Samara’s sister, Miriam.
And they hate each other. But slowly, they begin to see that the other one isn’t
as bad as they first thought. That misunderstandings need to be cleared up and
once they are, they realize how much they like each other.

But they each have secrets and they’re both perfectionists.
So the two of them have to learn to unbend, trust each other and be a little
less perfect.

Josh gets to show off his good qualities—and there are many.
He gets to show some vulnerability. And he learns that the right woman will not
only let him catch her, she’ll catch him as well.

Here’s an excerpt:

“I should
probably go and let you get some sleep. I’ll pick you up Saturday around 11?”

“Perfect. I
hope I’ll be recovered by then.”

He laughed,
kissed her cheek and let himself out the door.

She put her
hand to her cheek. His lips barely touched the skin, yet her cheek burned as if
he’d branded her. They’d been warm and dry against her face. What would they be
like against her lips? She leaned against the door and listened for the ding of
the elevator’s arrival. It was whisking away the man she grew more attached to
each time she was with him. She gripped the doorknob and willed herself not to
turn it, not to open the door, not to run after him.

The elevator
dinged. He’d kissed her.

***

Her cheek?
Did he kiss her cheek? Oh hell. What was he, fourteen?

Josh
continued to berate himself in silence as he flagged a taxi outside her
building. He gave his apartment address to the driver and stared out the
window.

Why didn’t
he kiss her lips, like a man? Like a man who was attracted to a delectable
woman.

He didn’t
have a good answer for that question, except their relationship was new and he
was still working things out.

She’d asked
for his assistance and he’d run to her. It’s what he did. He helped people, and
helping Miriam gave him a satisfaction deep in his soul. By aiding her, he
established a connection between his heart and hers, except he couldn’t tell
her.

If he did,
she’d in all likelihood run from him, especially after all the support he’d
tried to give her sister. She’d think he was doing the same thing, maybe
confusing the two of them, and she’d be far from the truth.

I love that your 'bad guy' got a book of his own. I'm all in favor of planting secondary characters to be used at a later date. It's even more fun when you aren't planning on giving them a story and they demand one! :)